


Nothing of Cities

by Caren80



Category: Band of Brothers (TV 2001)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Eventual Smut, F/M, Minor Original Character(s), Original Character(s), Slow-ish burn, Women Being Awesome, Women in the Military, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:28:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28658739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caren80/pseuds/Caren80
Summary: So what do you get when a stubborn combat medic from D-Company catches the eye of a tall Californian with a bazooka from E-Company? That’s right! This shit!
Relationships: Charles Grant/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let it henceforth be known that I am no good at writing summaries, but I am trying.
> 
> Catherine Taylor was not content with staying at home and letting her two older brothers do all the fighting so she decided to do her bid for the country as well. Since women on the frontline are a new thing and she isn’t allowed to fight alongside the men, she becomes the next best thing, a combat medic...

She was wondering, and not for the first time, why the hell she had even signed up for this.

Catherine Taylor was so tired that her knees shook, about to buckle underneath her, mere seconds away from falling face first into the man that was standing right in front of her. But that would be giving them what they want.

“You okay?” Even as much as lifting her hand to give Ralph a thumbs up hurt, but she managed. “Atta girl.”

She was insane. That’s what she was. She was surrounded by men who were in peak physical condition, some of whom could do the gruelling exercises without as much as batting an eyelid, and here she was, a woman, insane enough to think that she could do the exact same thing. But she was managing. She’d seen several guys buckle under the pressure already and she had defied all the odds so far by continuing to stick around.

Just a couple more seconds. That was all she needed. Everything burned. Her muscles were on fire from being worked in ways that she didn’t think possible before and it happened damn near every single day.

Insane. Absolutely fucking insane.

“Dismissed!”

“Jesus! Finally!” Catherine cried out and slumped to the ground the second the words were out of her commander’s mouth. “I’m dying.”

“You say that every day and you haven’t died yet.” Ralph nudged her with his foot. “I’m not leaving you down there.”

“Carry me.”

“Hell no. I’m not fucking carrying you.” He held his hand out to her and pulled her up off the ground. “Come on. I’ll walk you back to your barracks.”

“I love you, Ralph Tracy.” She patted his cheek in reward for his gracious offer. “You are a god amongst men.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She put her arm around his shoulder and slumped against him. “I’m not carrying you, Taylor. Come on. One foot in front of the other.”

Every day that she made it through this was a surprise to her. She’d never even thought that she’d make it this far, but she was still here. Dumb enough to actually sign up for this and now she was dumb enough to refuse to admit defeat. Bit of a family failing that. Lot of hardheaded people in her family. And by this point she had gotten so attached to most of the guys in her company, all of whom were relying on her already, that she didn’t want to let them down. That was the main driving force behind her sheer determination to keep hanging on.

“You are a true gentleman, Ralph, and I love you for it.” When she reached the barracks, she sat down and Ralph sat down right next to her, making her nudge her shoulder against his. “I’d invite you in, but us girls like to walk around in nothing but our underwear. It might be too much for your little heart to take if I were to let you have a glimpse into that mystical land filled with nothing but brassieres and panties.”

“I’ll just try to imagine it.”

“You’d better not be imagining me in my underwear. I’d fucking know.”

“I’ll do my best.” He grinned at her which she answered with one of her own before his face turned serious. “Why’d you even sign up for this?”

“Because I’m stupid. That’s why.”

“I already knew that.” She slapped him for that comment. “But seriously, why?”

“I like pushing myself. When someone tells me that I can’t do something, it just makes me want it more.”

She got told that she was unfit for this every single day and it only fuelled the fire inside her. If they thought they’d get her to quit, they had another thing coming. Her eldest brother had been telling her similar things for as long as she could remember so she was oddly used to taking the constant flak that she got. The only thing that was new about it were the tons of physical exercise that had been paired with it.

“Besides, I’ve been fighting to keep up with my brothers all my life. I’ll be damned if I let this get me down.”

“You really are stupid.”

“Why thank you for noticing.” She pushed her fist against his cheek. “Takes one to know one, numbskull.”

“Whatever.” He got back to his feet and added, “Go do your magical underwear thing with the other girls. If you ever decide to invite some guys round, my name had better be top of the list.”

“Help me up.” She held her hand out to him and he obliged her like he usually did. “Top of the list, Ralph, and you know it.”

When he’d turned his back on her, she pushed the door open, greeted the women that were present and shuffled over to her cot where she collapsed. She’d sleep for a week if she could, but that was a luxury that she did not have sadly enough. She’d get a few short hours if she was lucky and then the whole thing would start all over again.

*****

“It could be worse.”

“Worse how?”

“None of us got Sobel.”

All three of them nodded. They sat in front of their barracks, smoking a cigarette and enjoying the pleasant evening air. None of the other companies had it as bad as Easy.

“Those guys from Easy are seriously fucked.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Maddy scratched her leg absentmindedly. “He puts them through so much crap that it’s almost unreal. I’d have tapped out ages ago if they put me with Easy.”

“It’s kinda unfair really.”

“You’re just saying that cause you’re sweet on Pretty Boy Floyd.”

“Am not!”

“Emily, your face goes almost as red as your hair when you even so much as look in his direction.” The redhead had desperately tried to hide her attraction to him, but she was failing miserably. It was just so painfully obvious. “I get it. His ass is so tight that I’m willing to bet you could bounce quarters off it.”

“We should try that sometime. Could be fun.” Maddy joined in instantly, making Emily’s face go even more red. “He’d be up for it too, seeing how he puts the moves on any woman that even as much as dares to draw a breath when he’s near.”

“Speak of the devil,” Cat gestured widely with her hands when she saw Floyd Talbert coming into view. “And he shall appear.”

The men from Easy were just coming back in from another one of their evening runs and some of them noticed that the three of them were sitting there almost instantly. Suddenly they didn’t look so exhausted anymore.

“I’m going back in.” Emily got up abruptly, eyes nervously flitting over to where Floyd Talbert was standing and disappeared into the building. “Goodnight.”

“Night.” Catherine stretched her legs out and leaned back. “Think we’ll get a show?”

“I dunno. As we know by now, they’re definitely dumb enough for it.”

Both snorted loudly and distinctly unladylike. Having already finished their cigarettes, they lit another one quickly just to give off the impression that they had something to do and watched the guys from Easy stand at attention while they waited to be dismissed. As soon as they were, most of them headed back to their barracks whereas some of the others lingered.

“Enjoying the view, ladies?” Bill Guarnere was the first one to take the bait as usual.

“What view?” Maddy called back, making Cat nudge her side with a laugh. “You’re ruining it.”

“Ah, don’t be like that!” He sauntered over to where they were sitting as the other guys that had stayed behind seemed to be weighing their options about whether they should be joining him or not. “Think I haven’t noticed how you girls are always watching us?”

“Are we?” Cat got to her feet and cracked a smile at him. “We’re just sitting here minding our own business. You’re usually the one that can’t leave us alone.”

The two of them were somewhat friendly with each other after they had spent some time in each other’s company when they had latrine duty. She had seemingly earned his respect by backtalking him after he had made a particularly crude comment in regards to the women on the base. 

Producing a packet of smokes from her pocket, she held it out to him. “Want one or are you too out of breath?”

“Thanks, doll.” He took one and she lit it for him. “And I’m fine. Didn’t even bust a sweat.”

“Course you didn’t.” She looked over his shoulder at some of the guys who were still standing around and trying to look busy. “Think your friends are getting mighty lonely without you.”

“Fuck ‘em!” He didn’t even look back, far too preoccupied with talking to them. “I’d much rather look at your pretty faces than stare at their ugly mugs.”

“You keep that up and I’ll start feeling sorry for them.”

“Feel sorry for me for having to spend so much time with them.”

“Hey Bill! You done flirting?”

“Shut up, Luz.” He briefly turned his head to say that before turning his full attention back to them again. “See what I have to deal with?”

“Yeah, poor you.” Cat looked at Maddy, who’s eyes were on the guy that had just called out to Bill but he was too preoccupied with laughing over his own jokes to notice. She nudged her thigh with her foot, making her snap her head up. “Maddy, what do you think? Should we feel sorry for him?”

“What? Feel sorry? Why?”

“Ignore my friend,” she said to Bill. “She hasn’t been paying attention. Too busy with looking at one of those poor bastards behind you.”

“Ha! I’ll try not to take it personally.” He beamed her a large smile. “You know, you really remind me of my sister.”

“So you told me before, but I still don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.” She flicked her cigarette away and grinned at him. “Better head back to your friends, Bill. Before they get jealous about you choosing to spend time with us instead of with them.”

“They can get jealous all they want. They’re all too chickenshit to come talk to you gals anyway.”

“That’s because we’re so scary.” She curled her fingers to turn her hand into something that was supposed to resemble a claw. “We could scratch your eyes out when you least expect it.”

“I don’t mind,” he said with a shrug. “I think I’d kinda like it if you got physical with me.”

“Good lord,” she said with a laugh. “I think it’s high time for you to leave. Seeing how you just peaked with that comment.”

“Fine. I know when I’m not wanted.” When he made his way back over to his friends, he couldn’t resist calling back, “Have a pleasant evening, ladies. I’ll come pick you up in about an hour.”

“You wish!”

“Ouch!”

“That guy, I swear.” Maddy wasn’t paying attention again, making Cat lean down to wave her hand in front of her face to snap her out of it. “The short one with the big mouth? Really?”

“What? I think he’s cute.”

“You’re hopeless.”

“Bill’s got a big mouth as well.”

“That’s different.” She sat back down next to her friend again and watched some of the stragglers as they patted Bill’s shoulder and no doubt asked him what they had been talking about. “I’m not trying to fuck him.”

“You know, you never mentioned which one you think is cute.”

“Not telling.”

“Oh come on,” Maddy said with a pout. Out of all the women at the camp, Cat was the only one who refused to comment on any of the men, but since she sat with them every night to watch Easy come back, there just had to be someone. “If you absolutely had to, which one would you go for?”

“None of the guys that the two of you seem to favour and that’s all I’m saying about it.”

“You’re no fun, Cat.” Maddy got to her feet and patted the dirt from her behind. “You coming?”

“In a minute.”

“Fine. Keep your secrets.”

Suddenly she was alone, eyes drawn across the field as she tried to pretend like she wasn’t staring at anything in particular even if she was. Because among the small group of Easy men that had stayed behind there was a certain tall, dark blonde, blue eyed Californian boy that she’d taken quite a shine to, but she’d be damned if she was going to let someone find out about it.

She wasn’t here to pick up guys after all. That was the last thing on her mind. She wanted to be taken seriously, not work her way through all the men that were on the base.

But looking wouldn’t hurt, right? If she wasn’t allowed to look, God wouldn’t have given her eyes. He obviously wanted her to use them. Might as well use them to take in the sights whenever she had the opportunity to do so.

“Ah, fuck this. I need my sleep.”

Getting to her feet, she headed into the building, completely missing how Chuck Grant’s eyes were on her the second she started moving.

Weird how you could be so curious about someone you never even talked to.

“Hey Bill, what do you guys even talk about?” Luz started grinning before the words were even out of his mouth. “Trading tips on how to best do your hair?”

“None of your damn business! If you guys want to know, go over there and talk to them yourselves. They won’t bite.” He started sniggering to himself. “Wouldn’t mind if they did though.”

“What a charmer.”

“Shut up, Malark. You guys had better stay away from the one with the dark hair though. That one’s mine.”

Chuck’s ears perked up when he heard Bill say that. There were a couple of women on the base with dark hair, but only one of those women would regularly engage Bill in conversation and that just happened to be the one that had caught his eye.

“Does she know that?” Malarkey said with amusement in his voice. “Because we could all hear her turn you down.”

“You heard that, huh? Nothing wrong with your damn ears. But no, not that one. She’s got a big mouth.”

“And that reminds you too much of someone you know?” George got a smack on the head for that comment. “Hey!”

“You deserved that! She’s alright though.”

“Aw Bill. Don’t tell me you’re sweet on her!”

“Am not! Shut your yap!” He strode off in the direction of his barracks and loudly announced, “I’m getting some shut eye. Not interested in listening to you guys anymore.”

Luz and Malarkey laughed loudly over his comment and then headed off to get some sleep themselves. The rest of the group dispersed as soon as they realised that they weren’t going to get any more information about the women on the base anymore.

“What do you think?”

“About what?” Chuck looked at Talbert who leisurely walked alongside him. “Bill’s tall tales?”

“I saw your face when he mentioned that he had staked a claim.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, Chuck. You really think no one’s noticed?”

He merely blinked in response. He hadn’t thought that it had been that obvious, but maybe he’d been mistaken about being able to hide it. So what could he do to make light of this?

“So what?” He shrugged, thinking that might be the best option. “I’m allowed to look, right? Not like I’m the only one doing it.”

“Did I say that? I’m just trying to tell you that at one point or another you’ll have to stake a claim of your own before someone else beats you to it.”

“Oh, that’s your motto now is it? Seize the day and all that bullshit? It’s not like I can go over there and piss on her to mark my territory.”

“Is that what they do to women in California? Bunch of savages.” He raised his hand to smack his friend, but he moved out of the way before his blow could connect. “Back where I’m from we treat women with respect.”

“Course you do, Tab. We can all see how much you respect women.”

“I never hear any complaints.” Floyd grinned to himself in a self satisfied manner. “You should try it yourself sometime.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m not here to have a good time unlike some people I know.”

“You just gotta mix it up a little, but I can see that I’m preaching to deaf ears here. Just think about what I said. You really want some other guy to get off with your girl?”

“Not my girl. Never even talked to her.”

“I’m just saying that you should.” He put his hand on his shoulder and looked at him so seriously that it was throwing Chuck off for a moment. “Just think about it, okay?”

“For Christ’s sake. Who are you, my father?”

“I’d have knocked some damn sense into you if I was.” He gave him a hard push with a chuckle. “But it’s so adorable to look at. Big guy like you and he doesn’t know how to talk to women.”

“You’re really pushing your luck here.”

“Never thought you were the sort.”

“What sort?” Chuck groaned loudly and added, “Why do I even want to know?”

“For pining.”

“Fuck you, Tab. I’m not pining. We’re not in one of those damn romance novels.”

“If we were you’d obviously be the pining heroine.” Floyd could barely contain his laughter. “Waiting for her hero to finally notice her so he can whisk her away from her mundane life.”

“That is it! You are so dead.”

Before Floyd had a chance to get away, he’d already jumped on him and since he was smaller than Chuck was, his knees buckled from all the extra weight that was now on his shoulders and both ended up on the ground.

“Not in the face!” Tab cried out as he covered his face with his hands. “I’ve got a date on Saturday and I can’t show up with scratches all over my face.”

“Scratches? What the hell do you think I’m going to do to you?”

“You’re the heroine! They use their nails!”

Floyd yelped loudly when Chuck wrapped an arm around his head and put him into a headlock before proceeding to rub his fist over the top of his head.

“Would they do this? Huh?”

“Or my hair!” Tab started yelling at him again which only made Chuck laugh louder. “Not the hair!”

Neither of them had heard the door of their barracks open nor did they notice the annoyed look on Liebgott’s face as he stood in the doorway and looked down at the two of them as Chuck continued his assault on Floyd’s hair.

“Hey ladies!” Two heads turned at once even if Floyd could only see Liebgott’s feet due to how Chuck was still holding him. “Are you done?”

“Erm... Yeah.”

Chuck let go of Floyd so abruptly that he practically fell to his knees next to him. Floyd swore under his breath in return and then got back up to launch himself at Chuck’s side, making the other man topple over and thus giving Floyd the upper hand.

Joseph Liebgott was not amused. And that was putting it mildly. He moved away from the doorway, placed himself in between the two men and gave both of them a stare that no one wanted to be on the receiving end of.

“Done?”

“I was done before,” Chuck replied, out of breath and pulling his shirt back down which had ridden up earlier when he had gotten knocked over. “But then that idiot...”

“You started it!” Floyd in the meantime was running his hands through his hair, but was failing to get it slicked back down as some locks of hair continued to stick up. “You jumped me!”

“Need I remind you that it was because of...”

“Enough already!” Joe was seconds away from exploding which they could both see plain as day, instantly making them swallow their words. “Now get in there and go to sleep. We only get a couple of hours every night and I’m sure as hell not gonna miss any of it just because you two bozos couldn’t stop rolling around in the dirt out here.”

“Jesus Christ, Joe. You’re like my mother.”

“Don’t you start!” Joe damn near poked Floyd’s eye out when he pointed his finger at him. “I’m sick of this shit.”

Chuck and Floyd could do nothing more then admit defeat and walked into the barracks, but Floyd just couldn’t resist shoving Chuck from behind leading to the larger man losing his footing in the doorway and landing against the floor face first. That earned him a well earned slap against the back of the head from Joe and another stare which had the desired effect this time.

“Bunch of kids, that’s what you are,” Joe said loudly as he walked back to his cot. “Sometimes I feel like I’m the only responsible adult around here.”

“You? Seriously?”

“Shut up, Luz.” Yet another one who he didn’t want to deal with right now. “I’ve fucking had it.”

“Fuck, Joe. Is it that time of the month or something?” George started sniggering from the other side of the barracks. “You want me to walk over to the girls and ask them how you should deal with it?”

“If you guys don’t shut up right now, you’re all sleeping outside!” He looked around and waited for someone to start it up again, but even George wouldn’t meet his eye right now. “That’s what I thought. Now shut the hell up.”

Apart from the occasional snort afterwards, they remained quiet which meant Joe could finally get some well earned rest.

Fucking kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this!
> 
> Also, in this story the women on the base are basically all training to be combat medics. That choice comes entirely from a comment made by Ralph Spina on the Band of Brothers - In The Words of Easy Company feature on the boxset. He made a comment about how every company was supposed to have four medics. So that’s how I decided to insert the women into this.
> 
> The title of this fic probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I tend to link everything that I write to certain songs and Nothing of Cities by Years of Rice and Salt has been the song that I listened to a lot when writing this. It’s 13:15 minutes of instrumental awesomeness. Give it a listen.
> 
> https://m.soundcloud.com/yearsofriceandsalt/nothing-of-cities?in=%2Fyearsofriceandsalt%2Fsets%2Fnothing-of-cities-2011


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter essentially started life as a couple of really vague ideas that desperately needed to be fleshed out further.

The village of Aldbourne was small and picturesque and above all seemed very much ill-prepared for the massive influx of soldiers. Nevertheless the inhabitants were very welcoming and very happy to have them there. Especially the young women.

 _Oh my god._ The women.

“You wanna get out of here?”

The girl on his knee was leaning against Chuck’s chest, her arms loosely wrapped around his neck. One of his hands was firmly placed on her hip and the other kept drawing circles on her knee with his fingertips, making her giggle every time he went up a little bit higher. 

“For Christ’s sake!”

The sudden shout made him look up and he saw Floyd standing near the bar, his arms held out and looking down. When Chuck did the same, he couldn’t help but laugh because Floyd’s trousers were completely soaked.

He’d been trying to chat up the redhead from Able, but apparently she hadn’t been too interested. She sat next to him on her chair with an expression on her face that he couldn’t quite describe.

“You could have just said no, you know,” Floyd said to her before making his way outside so he could find himself a dry pair of trousers.

The redhead looked down, face as red as her hair by now, her embarrassment plain to see to all the onlookers. Most of the people present were laughing loudly over what had just happened. That was mainly because no one had ever witnessed Floyd’s usual silvery tongue failing him for once.

From out of nowhere, Catherine Taylor materialised beside the girl, put her arm around her and helped her down from her seat. With her arm firmly wrapped around the shoulders of her friend, she started leading her outside. In the same way that had often mystified him where she was concerned, his eyes just kept following her. Floyd would no doubt tease him for this if he were still around.

“Are you listening?”

“What?” He turned his attention back to the blonde. “Sorry. My friend just had a drink poured on him.”

She narrowed her eyes, obviously displeased that she didn’t have his undivided attention. Chuck saved himself excellently by kissing her full on the lips and slipping his hand up higher so that his fingers were now grazing her thighs.

“We really need to get out of here.” He was seconds away from slipping his hand into her underwear right there and then if she’d let him. “ _Now._ ”

The girl, who’s name he had long since forgotten, giggled in reply and pressed herself against his side when he got to his feet. When they were outside, he could just make out the shapes of the two women who had exited the pub moments earlier up ahead, speaking in hushed voices. Chuck briefly wondered what they were talking about, but he was instantly pulled out of that train of thought when the girl wrapped her arms around his neck and claimed his mouth with hers.

“Eager,” he said with a low chuckle. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her against himself and gave her a kiss of such intensity that she was soon moaning into his mouth. “Let’s go. Before I take you right here.”

*****

Leading Emily outside, she kept walking with her until her friend stopped moving, her hands tightening in her shirt and unable to meet her eye. She hadn’t seen what had happened, only the aftermath and had swooped in the second that Floyd had left.

“I don’t know what happened!” It took her a while, but finally the words came out. “I just... I tried to grab my glass and then I... all of a sudden it was on his lap...”

“I know. I saw.”

“Oh my god. He’ll never speak to me again.”

“I don’t think something like that will keep Floyd Talbert away. Sure was funny though.” Emily slapped her suddenly. “I’m sorry! I don’t know why I said that!”

“That was not funny!” She slapped her hand over her mouth when her voice went up in pitch. “It wasn’t...”

“Jesus Christ, Emily. Are you crying?” She shook her head, bottom lip trembling as tears already ran down her cheeks. Catherine wrapped her arms around her and started rubbing her back soothingly. “It’ll be fine. Honest. I’ll even go and talk to him if you want me to.”

“But you hate him.”

“I don’t hate him. Why do you think I hate him?”

“It’s pretty obvious, Cat.”

“Hate is a very strong word.” Truth be told she didn’t have a lot of thoughts where Floyd was concerned, but she did think that he was incredibly unsuited for her friend. That was the only reason why she disliked him. “Emily, he’ll screw anything as long it has a pulse. You must have heard the stories about his massive stash of condoms.”

Everybody knew about it. It wasn’t exactly a well kept secret. On one occasion Bill had also mentioned that some of the guys from the company would dip into Floyd’s stash back at Toccoa whenever they needed a couple of their own and it always made her wonder how many Floyd even had to begin with if he was able to provide them to his friends as well.

“I know.”

“But for some reason that I never understood, you seem to like him. So if you want me to talk to him, I will.” She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and started wiping Emily’s tears away. “It was just nerves. That’s all. You’ve had a crush on him for a while now so I guess it’s only natural that your nerves took over when he finally singled you out.”

Catherine had seen Floyd go up to her. Emily had been unusually stiff when Floyd approached her and would barely meet his eye as he kept talking, but apparently she had given him enough of an indication that she welcomed his advances for him to keep going and then she’d...

She heard a noise somewhere behind them, someone laughing, and had found herself looking straight into the scene that took place a short distance away from them. Chuck Grant with his arms around one of those land army girls that were stationed nearby, lips pressed down on hers in a greedy kiss. She didn’t know how fast to turn her head away, almost embarrassed that she had witnessed this incredibly intimate moment. When she looked back at Emily again, it looked like she had managed to compose herself somewhat and had a curious expression on her face.

“What?” Catherine gently touched her shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“Wishing that it was you?”

“Why on earth would I want that?” Emily’s cheeks were still streaked with tears, but she still managed to give her a stare that indicated quite clearly that she didn’t believe a word of what Catherine had just said. “Why would that... I mean... _no._ How did you even...”

“I’d like to think that I’m better at reading you than some of the other girls.”

“Oh.” She was momentarily stunned into silence. Though it made sense that Emily had been the one to piece it together since she had known her the longest. They had first met at nurse training before both of them had signed up to become combat medics after learning that they were admitting women. “I’m trying to comfort you, this isn’t about me. Besides, it’s not like it’ll go anywhere.”

“How do you even know that?”

“Because I don’t want it to,” she said simply. “That’s why.”

“Bullshit.” Very strong word to use when you took into account that the redhead hardly ever swore. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Jesus Christ,” she said with a sigh. “Look, we’re about to be sent into a war. I don’t need frivolous distractions right now. And trust me when I say that it would definitely distract me.”

“Doesn’t have to.”

“It will. Trust me.”

She was convinced that she needed a certain amount of detachment in order to do her job. She realised that she had already failed that in part due to forming attachments to the men in her own company, which was unavoidable, but falling for someone was the last thing on her mind. She absolutely and positively did not want that to happen.

“You think?” Emily sniffled and wiped her nose. “I just really thought that maybe...” She was silent for a while, still processing what had happened earlier. Then she took a deep breath and gave her firm nod, seemingly steeling her resolve. “Maybe you’re right.”

“I’m right and you know it.” Emily offered her a weak smile which made her swoop her up into a tight hug. “You going to be okay?”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“Sure you don’t want me to talk to him? Because I will.”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay. Come on. I’ve got a couple of Hershey bars laying around in my room in case of emergencies. This is the kind of moment that just screams for chocolate.” She put her arm around Emily’s shoulder and started pulling her along. “I may even have a bottle of rum stashed away somewhere as well.”

“I’m not a big drinker.”

“So watch me get drunk instead. You can have the chocolate.”

When Emily laughed in reply, it made her glad that she had finally managed to get her to smile. It would make the headache that she had in the morning all the more worth it.

*****

Floyd Talbert had been the butt of the joke for the entire morning and he was sick of it. Everyone around him was a little bit too amused that he hadn’t picked up a girl for one night. Granted, it had been a while since that had happened, but he usually didn’t have drinks thrown at him. A slap yes, that had definitely happened before, but not this.

“I can’t believe I missed that!”

Joe Liebgott had tears in his eyes and was nearly doubled over with laughter over Chuck’s account of what had happened. Sniggers erupted around them yet again, some guys really weren’t tiring of this story at all. How many times had he heard it now? Five times?

“You should have seen it, it was hilarious.” Chuck got up and mimicked Floyd’s pose and voice, “ _You could have just said no_.”

“I don’t sound like that!”

“Yeah, you do.” Luz, the king of impressions, called out from a few tables away. “Exactly like that.”

“Thank you, George!” Chuck gave Floyd a look that said ‘Told you so’, making him roll his eyes. “You hear that? _Exactly_.”

“Give it a rest, Chuck.”

“The great Floyd Talbert turned down.” Joe wiped at his eyes. “Why the hell did I miss that?”

“I am never going near another woman ever again.”

“Course you won’t.” Chuck reached over and patted his back. “He’ll have his head buried between some other girl’s thighs this very evening. Mark my words.”

Floyd didn’t reply. He was never going to live this down.

“Bill!” Guarnere walked into the hall, completely unaware of what had happened. “Come over here. You gotta hear this...”

“Oh, come on, you guys!” Floyd hung his head in defeat. “Again?”

“Yeah, again!” Joe said with a snigger. “This is the best thing that’s happened in a while.”

“Not for me!”

“Shut up, Floyd. I want to hear Chuck tell this story again...”

*****

Chuck’s assessment hadn’t been that far off in the end. Floyd had jumped back in the saddle that very evening and had found himself a date in no time. He just wanted to get one more drink before whisking her away so he could do what he hadn’t managed to do the night before. When someone tapped on his shoulder, he turned round with a smile, fully expecting to find his date standing there, as eager to leave as he was, only to find himself staring straight into a pair of dark eyes that he’d never seen that close-up before.

“Can we talk?” Catherine was the last person that he expected would want to talk to him. “Please?”

“You want to throw a drink on me as well?”

“Do you see a drink in my hands?” She held her hands up to prove that they were empty. “But if you give me one, I might. Didn’t know you were into that kind of thing though.”

“Depends on how you do it,” he said with a grin. “But if you’re looking for a date, I’m sad to tell you that I’m unavailable for the evening.”

“Oh no, say it ain’t so! How will I ever recover from this brutal rejection?” She grabbed at her chest dramatically. “Trust me when I say that you’re the last guy around here that I want attention from. I just want to talk to you about yesterday.”

“And what about yesterday?”

“It’s about Emily. She wants to apologise.”

“Why can’t she tell me that herself?”

“Why do you think? Because she’s mortified, genius.” She paused, realising that she was probably coming across a bit harsh and that it wouldn’t help her friend if she continued talking to him like this. “Look, it was an accident, okay?” Her words were softer now, there was no need to be overly defensive over this. “She just happened to knock her drink over, nothing intentional about it. She was very nervous and she’s really sorry that it happened.”

“Okay.” It did kind of explain how the redhead had seemingly been unable to look him in the eye when he had first approached her. “Apology accepted.”

There was really nothing more he could say. He probably wouldn’t be going near Emily Burton again any time soon, but he just knew that he would give it another go in the future. The girl was a looker after all.

“Fine. I’ll let her know you said that. Thank you.”

“Does she even know about this?” It was a thought that occurred to him suddenly. “You talking to me I mean.”

“No. No, she doesn’t.” Emily would probably kill her if she knew that she had done this. “And I would prefer it if you didn’t tell her. She doesn’t have to know about this. Just... I don’t know... take your time with her? She’s kinda shy. That’s all.”

“Duly noted.” He’d definitely remember that. “Let me buy you a drink for your troubles.”

“No thank you,” she barely let him finish his sentence before interrupting him. “Get back to your date before she gets cold.”

“She can wait. I’m talking to you right now.”

“Why do you even want to talk to me?”

“Curiosity finally getting the best of me?” He signalled to the bartender and pointed at his own glass. When another whiskey was poured, he pushed it over to her. “We’ve never talked to each other before and you did come up to me after all.”

“That was purely for Emily’s sake.” She folded her arms in front of her chest, wondering what the catch was before sighing deeply. “But fine. I guess I don’t have anywhere else to be this very minute.”

“Jesus. You’re a tough cookie, aren’t you? I can see why Bill likes you.”

“I don’t think that is the only reason why we get along.” She couldn’t help but smile. Bill kind of reminded her of her eldest brother. Him and her brother would probably be friends if they knew each other. “Bill’s a great guy. Absolutely batshit crazy, but in a good way. If that makes sense.”

“Kinda does actually.” He looked her up and down briefly. Everything in her body language told him that she didn’t like him, but she was proving to be all bark and no bite so far. It kind of reminded him of a girl he knew back home. “Will you loosen up a little? I’m not going to do anything to you.”

“I’d like to see you fucking try.”

“Come on, sweetheart. I won’t bite. Not unless you’d specifically ask me to that is.”

“Does that line usually work for you?” She raised an eyebrow at him, though there was a hint of amusement there now as well.

“You’d be surprised.”

“I would be actually.”

“Don’t you think it’s better that we try to act friendly with each other considering the circumstances?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” A frown furrowed her brow suddenly. “Because of Emily?”

“No, not because of her.” She really didn’t have an inkling of what he was talking about and he wasn’t going to tell her what his exact reasoning behind that comment had been either. “I wouldn’t want you to refuse to help me in case I find myself injured.”

_Excellent save._

__

__

“You don’t have to worry about that. I don’t let my personal opinion of anyone get in the way of my job.”

“Now why doesn’t that comfort me in the slightest?”

“That would be your problem. Not mine.” She moved in closer suddenly. “But you’re always welcome to call out my name in case you’re injured, Floyd.” She sounded almost seductive there, her voice turning low and husky suddenly. “Just don’t expect me to come running.”

“Damn. Are you always like that?”

“You’ll never find out.” She pulled away from him with the biggest smirk plastered all over her face, grabbed the drink that he’d bought her and knocked it back in one go. “Have a nice evening, Floyd.”

When he walked back to his date, he was laughing to himself. If Chuck ever decided to finally make a move on her, Floyd had to make sure that he was there to see it play out. It could go two ways. They’d either try to jump each other’s bones or she’d tear him a new one.

Whichever way it went, it would probably be hilarious.

*****

The following day Floyd and Chuck had been on their way to collect their washing when they’d passed a small group of people from Dog with Catherine among them. Floyd wouldn’t have noticed her if it wasn’t for the way that Chuck’s eyes naturally seemed to zone in on her.

Floyd decided that this was the perfect time to pull a prank on his friend, just to pay him back for making him suffer the day before. He said that he wanted to say hi to a lady he’d just spotted, making Chuck roll his eyes in exasperation only for him to call out two words that he hadn’t expected to come out of his mouth when he walked over to the small group.

“Hey medic!”

“What?” The men around her dispersed when she turned to face him, but remained close by. Floyd decided that the look of sheer annoyance on her face when she saw who had called out to her was a thing of beauty. “What do you want?”

“You told me I could call you whenever I needed you, remember?” He grinned at her and added, “Or would you rather I call out your first name? Catherine? Just say the word.”

“Medic will do, thank you very much. Or just Taylor in case you needed to specify which one.” She looked down at the satchel that hung on her side at all times, silently wondering if she needed any of her supplies and then back up at him. “And that was in case of an emergency, not because you have a blister on your toe.”

“Now how did you know I wanted you to look at my foot?”

“Is this guy bothering you?” Suddenly one of the men from her company practically inserted himself between them. “Just say the word.”

“No, Theo. He’s not bothering me. He’s just being a pain in the ass.” She gently touched the kid’s shoulder and shoed him off. “But thanks anyway, sweetheart.”

“Is that any way to talk to a patient?”

“Fuck off, Floyd.” There was no malice behind her words and he could even see the corners of her mouth quirk up into a smile. “If you happen to find yourself seriously injured, please find one of your own medics to look at it first. Now if they happen to find themselves unavailable, feel free to find me.”

“I might have bled out by then.”

“That’s just a risk that you’ll have to take I’m afraid.” He could see the kid who had interrupted them earlier taking up position behind her, fixing Floyd with a stare that was nowhere near as intimidating as he obviously hoped it would be. “Now as you can see, I’m kind of busy and as interesting as our little talk is, this is where it has to end. I’ll see you around, Floyd.”

She gave him a brief wave and then grabbed the kid’s arm before leading him away. A lot of the men from her company were always ready to jump in whenever they thought someone was bothering her. Though he doubted that she needed much of their protection with that tongue of hers.

When Floyd went back over to where he had left Chuck, his friend was staring at him wide-eyed. He hadn’t been around when Catherine had gone up to Floyd to apologise on behalf of her friend and he sure as hell hadn’t mentioned it to him either. The look of surprise on Chuck’s face had told him that it had been worth it.

“What?” Chuck fell in step alongside him when Floyd walked past him. “You okay there?”

“When did that happen?” His friend gestured back to where she had been moments earlier. “I didn’t know that you knew her.”

“Never talked to her until yesterday,” Floyd said with a grin. “You should try it sometime.”

“You really are a sneaky bastard, Tab.”

“Maybe I am.” He paused for a moment and then added, “Good luck with that one. You’re gonna need it.”

“Not this shit again.”

“Yes! Again! Because you know what I don’t get? You’re perfectly capable of going up to every woman that you like the look of, but not her. Why is that?”

“Because she doesn’t seem interested.”

“What the fuck? That’s it?”

“That guy from Fox kept going on about how she’d broken a bone in his foot.”

The story was fairly infamous amongst the men. Someone from Fox had squeezed her ass when he had walked past her once. Catherine had retaliated by stomping on his foot and then grinding down on it. She really seemed to know which spot to hit to really make it hurt too and afterwards the guy kept going on and on to anyone that would listen about how she had seriously injured him.

“That guy’s a wimp.”

“Maybe. But I just don’t think I should bother, you know?”

“Really? So that’s the reason?” Floyd had been trying to push Chuck into the right direction for a while now, but nothing had worked so far. But he had absolutely no intention of backing down from this. He’d invested too much time in it for starters. “Maybe you’re the wimp.”

“Fuck you, Tab.”

“Deny it all you want, you know I’m right.”

Floyd didn’t really get it if he was honest. How could you possibly know if a girl wasn’t interested if you didn’t at least make a pass at her?

“I’m still not going to do it,” Chuck said quite firmly. “So you can just shut up about it.”

“Maybe it’s for the best. I have a feeling she’d bite your head off.”

“Like a mantis?”

“They do that?”

“Females bite the head off the males when they’re mating.” Floyd visibly cringed. “Don’t like that?”

“Not really no. That is disgusting.”

“Just nature,” Chuck said with a shrug. “Some spiders do it as well.”

“How the hell did we even get here?”

“In Aldbourne? Well, we got on a ship...”

“Not that, idiot.” Chuck was working really hard not to burst out in laughter. “I was trying to get you to make a pass at the medic and all of a sudden you gave me a biology lesson. You’re weird.”

“I’m weird?”

“Yeah, you are. Real fucking weird.” Floyd slapped Chuck when he started snorting with laughter. “What kind of guy follows a comment like that up with one about insects decapitating each other during sex? You are one sick fuck.”

“Just popped into my head. And spiders aren’t insects, they’re arachnids.”

“Yeah, see? That’s not normal,” Floyd said scoldingly. “Actually on second thought, don’t talk to her. Knowing you, you’d probably use that as a pickup line and that is not how you get girls. That kind of talk isn’t exactly a turn on.”

“Does that mean you’ll finally shut up about it then?”

“Maybe.”

“I won’t hold my breath.”

“Probably for the best.”

Chuck groaned in reply when he saw Floyd’s smirk. He already knew that Floyd wasn’t going to shut his mouth in regards to this, he never would. But having a short respite from his near constant teasing was indeed a welcome one.

Shame that it only lasted for about two hours in the end.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The air is full of rumours surrounding Dog Company’s new commanding officer and this leads to speculation about his true nature between the people under his command.
> 
> Catherine loses someone dear to her leading to her eventually reevaluating previously made decisions.
> 
> Oh, and the boys have another minor scuffle much to the amusement of the onlookers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for the death of a male OC.

They hadn’t been in France long, but the air was already rife with stories about Dog’s new commanding officer, Ronald Speirs. He had been assigned to them shortly before they jumped into Normandy and since he was the only surviving officer of the company, he had effectively been in charge of it for a short while since it took headquarters a few days to find someone else to take control. It hadn’t taken him long to become infamous.

Shot and killed a drunk sergeant.

Shot and killed prisoners of war.

And those were just some of the stories that went around. The list just kept growing as everyone seemed to tack on more insanity to the list of things that Speirs had allegedly done. Half of the rumours were so outlandish that they couldn’t possibly be true, but people just ate it up and accepted it as if it were gospel.

For some inexplicable reason Catherine had gotten herself caught up in some of the idle gossip that surrounded him as well and no one knew exactly where it had originated from. The stories made no sense. Apparently she was like a puppy, constantly sticking to her master’s heel, never wanting to stray too far behind and always seeking Speirs’ approval. The stories got more elaborate within a matter of days. Stolen kisses in the night. Stifled moans in the dark. Ridiculous stories.

“You should say something about it.”

“What good would that do?” She was sitting with Ralph and Theo and they were sharing a cigarette between themselves. “They’re only saying it because I’m the only one that isn’t shitting themselves whenever he’s near. And I’m a woman, so I must be fucking him, right?”

“It’s not particularly fair to you,” Theo said softly.

“Life isn’t fair. That’s just the way it is.”

“No one messes with you anymore though.” Tracy took the cigarette from her and took a drag. “So it’s not all bad.”

“That’s true. Bet you like that huh?” Ralph didn’t reply, but merely chuckled. “You know what I don’t get about it though, how do these geniuses even suppose I have sex with the guy when I’m usually right next to Theo during the night. Never known you to be a particularly heavy sleeper.”

“But you are,” Theo commented. “Could fire a bazooka next to your head and you’d sleep right through it.”

“Oh, so that’s it. Speirs fucks me in my sleep and you let him.” She knocked her elbow against his ribs. “Wake me up next time it happens will you. Be a shame to miss it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind the next time that he shows up.”

They barely heard Speirs right before he appeared, moving into view suddenly and seemingly from out of nowhere. He jerked his head at them, making it clear that they were moving out.

“How does he do that?” Ralph said as they got to their feet. “I swear he can hear us whenever we talk about him.”

“That seems unlikely.” Theo adjusted his gear and followed their CO. “Just a coincidence.”

“I don’t know, man. Strange forces are at work here.”

Ralph had mentioned before how he seemed to think that there was a certain otherworldly quality to Speirs. He was absolutely convinced that there was something about the man that didn’t make sense, but he hadn’t been able to put his finger on what it was exactly.

“I’ll ask him.”

“What? No!” Catherine jogged ahead and walked next to Speirs. “Cat!”

“Sir?” She looked over her shoulder and grinned at Ralph. “Can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“You’re awfully silent, sir. In how you move I mean.”

“Is that a question or an observation?” He kept looking ahead, only acknowledging her presence by talking back to her. “And do I?”

“You do, sir. You keep scaring the shit out of everyone since you just seem to appear out of nowhere all the time.” She sniggered to herself and cleared her throat when she felt his eyes on her. “Keeps them on their toes though.”

“That so?”

By now she’d completely forgotten what the question was that she had wanted to ask, if there even was one to begin with, but she kept walking beside him regardless for a short while. Her own steps were anything but silent, whereas he walked with such a soft tread that it was almost surreal. _Wonder where he learned how to do that?_

“Well, I won’t bother you anymore, sir.” She fell back suddenly and walked in between Ralph and Theo once more. “He’s a pooka.”

“A what?”

“A pooka. Irish shapeshifters that creep up silently behind their victims.” She’d read about this once in a book. She always knew she read those books for a reason. “Not to kill them, mind, just to entice travellers to take a ride on their backs. You get taken on a wild ride and then they take you back to where you started your journey from. Very prone to mischief, a pooka. Though they don’t offer you rides in human form obviously. Horse form.”

“Horse form?”

“Yep.” Catherine nodded firmly. “Big black horse with golden eyes. They can bring good or bad fortune so let’s just hope that our pooka brings us the good kind.”

“You are so full of shit.”

“No, it’s true. He told me.” She pointed at Speirs’ back up ahead. “Showed me his tail and everything.”

“His tail?” Theo started chuckling, but Ralph was eating it up. “He has a tail?”

“Pookas have either animal ears or tails when they’re in human form and since he’s lacking the furry ears... a tail it is.” She nudged Ralph in the ribs, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks as she tried to suppress her laughter. “Want me to ask if he’ll show it to you? It really is a thing of beauty. Like a little fuzzy rabbit’s tail.”

“Shut up, Cat.” He looked at her face and rolled his eyes. “Bullshit.”

“Had you believing it for a few seconds there though, didn’t I?” She grinned at him and continued, “Ralph, you know I love you, but Speirs is as human as we are. Nothing else to it.”

“I refuse to believe that.”

“Okay, Ralph. You keep trying to figure out what he really is and I’ll do my best to debunk every theory you come up with. How’s that sound?”

“Fuck you.”

“Such foul language for such a pure boy.”

“I’m not pure!”

“Tracy!” All that Speirs had to do was say his name to make Ralph instantly freeze in his tracks. “You want to let the Germans know exactly where we are?”

“Ye- I mean, no, sir. Sorry, sir.”

Catherine covered her mouth with her hand to stop herself from bursting out in laughter and Theo did the same thing. They did not want to have Speirs’ ire directed at them. That would be best avoided if possible.

“Thanks for that,” Ralph hissed at her afterwards.

“You brought that on yourself,” she whispered back. “Nothing to do with me.”

That earned her a glare in return which made her reach over to pat the back of his neck until he brushed her hand away and he mouthed at her to knock it off with a smile.

Try as he might, Ralph just never could stay angry with her for long.

*****

When they had dug in for the night, Theo had stumbled from their foxhole with the announcement that he had needed a take a leak. Catherine had told him not to get lost in the dark. He hadn’t been gone long when she heard a sound that she had come to know far too well since arriving in France.

“What the hell are they shooting at now?”

“No idea!” Ralph called back from the next foxhole. “Bunch of idiots!”

Sitting still for a few more seconds, no other sound followed which was odd. Then she suddenly realised something.

Instantly standing up, she could just make Theo out in the dark, laying on the ground, one of his arms clutching at his chest. Scrambling out of the foxhole, she made her way to his side and frantically started pulling on his clothes as she tried to find the source of his injury in the dark.

“No, no, no.” He looked at her then, hand reaching up to grab hers and then gripping it tightly. “Stay with me! Don’t you dare!”

His uniform had a black stain on it that just kept growing, like some sickening flower that was in bloom. With him gripping one hand so tightly that she could feel him crunch her fingers together, she pulled a pouch of sulfa powder from her satchel with the other, tore it open with her teeth and sprinkled it on his chest even if she had no idea where the source of the bleeding was coming from.

Tracy was the first one to reach her. The first one that she was aware of anyway. She pulled bandages from her bag and pressed them on so haphazardly that Ralph took over and set to pressing them on Theo’s chest to stop the blood from pouring out. But it wasn’t working. There was so much blood. So much of it.

“I can’t stop the bleeding. I can’t stop it.” Theo’s eyes focused on hers and he looked so calm that it practically scared the shit out of her. “Stay with me, Theo!”

He attempted to draw another breath, a gurgling noise escaping from his lips, but then his eyes glazed over and the tight grip that he had on her hand changed as he slipped away, making her reach out for him instead to keep hanging on. It was like she was suspended in time. This wasn’t real. This wasn’t happening. The only thing that managed to pull her out of it was Speirs shaking her shoulder.

“Taylor.”

“Jesus Christ.” She kept a vice like grip on his hand, unable to release him. “I couldn’t...”

“I know.” How Speirs could sound so calm was beyond her. “It’s okay.”

“It isn’t. It’s not okay.”

“Tracy. Take her for a walk.”

“I’m fine,” she bit back instantly. “I can’t leave him.”

“What do you suggest we do then, Taylor? You gonna sit next to his body all night? You want to hold a vigil?”

“If I have to.”

“No.” His reply was firm and the tone of his voice left no place for argument. “I order you to take that damn walk.”

“Excuse me, sir, but the only way you could get me to leave is if you dragged me away and I swear to god that I won’t go quietly.”

The only person that made a sound was Ralph who gasped because of what she said. Or to be more precise, because of _who_ she had said it to. Speirs looked remarkably unimpressed by her answer, but she would not be swayed on this. The silence between them seemed to drag on for ages even if it only lasted for a few seconds. Then a low chuckle finally cut through it.

“Fine.” She swore she could see a hint of amusement in his eyes over her frankly stupid decision to defy a direct order. “Ten minutes. That is it. Do you understand?”

“Perfectly, sir.” Her eyes turned to Theo’s eyes which she suddenly realised were still open and still on her. She released his hand and brushed her hand over his lids to close them. “Ralph, please help me.”

“You sure you want to do this?”

“I need to know. If I could have...” Ralph was still sitting on the other side of Theo and was waiting for her to tell him what to do. “You take care of his personal effects. Then give them to me. I’ll keep them with me and send them back to his mother the minute we’re back in England.”

“And what if something happens you?”

“Ralph, did you seriously just ask me what you’re supposed to do in the event of my death?” She laughed bitterly over his question. “Then you can pry my personal effects as well as his from my cold dead hands and send them back. I’ll haunt your fucking ass for all eternity if you don’t.”

“Not funny.”

“You just asked me what you should do in case I died, asshole. If anything’s not funny, that’s it.”

There was silence once more, as she pulled Theo’s jacket open, his undershirt stained with blood as she tried to find an entry wound. It took her short while, but she found it. A chest wound, right over where his heart was. It was an excellent shot. The Germans would seemingly shoot at nothing sometimes, so it could have been luck on their end. And if the shooter had known that Theo was there, he was one hell of a shot.

“How can someone even bleed this much?”

“I don’t know.” Her voice was flat as she shut all her emotions away. “He was gone so quickly I could barely even say anything. I should have told him not to be scared. That everything was going to be fine.”

“Would you?” She briefly looked up at Ralph. “Would you have lied to him?”

“No. But I think he knew. I could only just make out his face in the dark, but when his eyes were on mine... he knew he was dying.”

“You think?”

“Yeah. He was so calm about it too. Serene almost. And all I did was let him hold my hand as I screamed at him.”

Catherine had seen far too much death already, but this was the first time that she’d lost it. That was new. She closed his jacket and checked his pockets as well to make sure that Ralph hadn’t missed anything. Her fingertips brushed over his dog tags first before she removed one of them and put it in her packet of cigarettes.

“Done.” It sounded so final. “Tell Speirs that we’re done. They can come take him away...”

“I will.” Ralph got to his feet and hesitated for a while, unsure whether he should hug her or not before deciding against it. “Be right back.”

When he had left, she briefly leaned forward and pressed her forehead against the one of her fallen friend. She needed to do this. If anyone deserved it, it was Theo.

“Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince:  
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

She sat down next to him once more and held his hand until he was taken away from her.

*****

The next morning was unusually sunny and she could see the sunshine illuminating more and more of the foxhole as time passed. She’d pressed herself against the side of the dirt wall, legs pulled up and her arms wrapped around them. The hole felt too empty now.

Not right. This wasn’t right.

Eventually clambering out of it, she sat down, peered into the empty hole and lit a cigarette. She wasn’t even sure how long she had even been awake for, all the minutes just seemed to blend into each other after a while. She shook every time that she moved, seemingly unable to control her muscles.

“Taylor.”

Speirs just appeared out of nowhere, as per usual, but she realised that she was too out of it to have even noticed his approach if he had made more noise.

“Sir.”

“Did you even get any sleep?”

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“You’re no good to me when you’re dead.” He crouched down in front of her to look at her more closely. “Do I need to drag you off kicking and screaming today?”

“No.” She was a mess, but she’d be fine. “And can I redirect that earlier question, sir? Because I’m pretty damn sure you barely get any sleep yourself.”

“I can function even without sleep. I’m not so sure you can.”

“Of course you can. That’s ‘cause you’re not human.” The words were out of her mouth before she even realised it, but she got nothing in terms of a response from him. She was exhausted and it was making her irritable. And Speirs was probably the worst person to take it out on. “I apologise, sir. Shouldn’t have said that. And no need to worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

Her vision was somewhat blurry, it seemed to take her forever to focus on him and when she did she found his expression as passive as ever. He got back to his feet and lit a cigarette of his own.

“There’s a stream near here, right?”

“Through those trees.”

“I’ll go wash my face, sir. That’ll wake me up.”

He patted the top of her helmet twice before disappearing amongst the trees himself. For all the talk that followed him in regards to what a monster he was, during the short time that she had known him he had struck her as someone who made an effort to keep as close an eye as possible on all the people under his command.

He always seemed to be perfectly able to pick up on who was struggling. If that was because he didn’t want to deal with the consequences of having someone possibly endanger the others or whether he actually cared, she did not know and she certainly didn’t expect a straight answer from him were she to ask him directly. If she’d even get an answer at all that was.

Walking through the trees she could hear the water before seeing it. Dropping down on her knees near the edge, she peered down into the glassy surface to look at herself more closely. Catherine chuckled to herself when she saw her reflection. She looked like shit.

Cupping her hands, she started splashing handfuls of cool water on her face. But it wasn’t until she tasted something on the back of her tongue that her eyes widened in panic. She could taste iron. Faintly, but it was there. Her hands had been covered in dried blood that morning. Blood that she hadn’t washed off yet.

“Oh my god.”

The very next second, she was dry heaving, instantly nauseous when she realised who’s blood she had just tasted on the back of her throat. The taste of bile replaced the iron tang, that was one thing to be thankful for at least. Collapsing on the edge of the small stream, she took a moment to compose herself, to push these feelings down, because she couldn’t let them take over. She had a job to do and would be useless otherwise. Too many people counted on her to be there and make sure that they would live to see another day. Even if she had just lost... _No._ Theo wouldn’t want to see her like this. If anything she had to stay strong to honour his memory. 

It took her some time, but she eventually continued what she had set out to do and later re-emerged from the trees, her face a near impassive mask. She would grieve Theo’s loss at another time, in private. No one needed a medic who couldn’t do their job. Of this she was convinced so she just needed to get on with it and keep doing her job to the best of her abilities.

Impossible, but she had to try. That was all she could do.

*****

Chuck and Joe Liebgott had been sitting in the remains of the town square, smoking and enjoying the sunshine as they waited for new orders. From the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw someone hurriedly walking away from a building and he instantly recognised who it was as Catherine disappeared from view.

Seeing her wasn’t altogether unusual since Dog, Easy and Fox were usually near each other, but something seemed off now. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“Wonder what that was all about.”

“I don’t know,” Chuck said with a shrug.

A short while later, Floyd appeared from the same direction that she had just come from and Chuck couldn’t help but notice that his friend was readjusting his trousers.

“You didn’t!” Lieb called out when he came closer. “You did not just fuck that medic.”

“What?” Floyd looked surprised, his eyes instantly going over to Chuck before sitting down next to them. “Why would you think that?”

“Come on. We saw her seconds before you showed up.”

“I wasn’t fucking her. She walked in on me.”

“Doing what?”

“I was jerking off,” he said with a huge sigh. “She just yanked the door open from out of nowhere.”

“She didn’t.”

“She did! I had my back to her, but I turned round to see who it was and then she just... you know... got an eyeful of my dick.” Lieb instantly burst out laughing. “Not funny, Lieb.”

“It so is. She didn’t offer to give you a hand?”

“No.”

“That’s probably because she’s fucking Speirs.”

“What?” Chuck could not help but sound incredulous over what Lieb had just said. “She is not.”

“Bullshit,” Floyd interjected. “Who’s been saying that?”

“Some guys from Fox.”

“They’re a bunch of fucking yokels.” Chuck hadn’t had any direct dealings with F Company, but the general consensus was that they were always seconds away from trading their guns in for pitchforks. “How the hell would they even know?”

“I’m just saying that it’s what I heard.”

“Fuck off.” Floyd lit a cigarette and thought about it for a bit. “Did anyone even confirm this?”

“Maybe you should have asked if she was seeing anyone when she walked in on you, Tab.”

“It just slipped my mind. Can you blame me?”

“Well, I wouldn’t have forgotten about it.” Lieb started grinning as he stared off in the distance. “You seen her ass? Fucking mesmerising, man.”

“Big word for someone like you.”

“Hey!” Lieb flipped Chuck off over that comment. “It’s not like I can’t read.”

“Comic books, Lieb.” Floyd reached over and nudged him. “You can’t compare the likes of Dick Tracy to an actual book.”

“It’s got words!”

“And pictures,” Chuck said with a snort.

“Whatever, morons.” Deciding that he’d taken enough abuse, Lieb got to his feet suddenly. “I’m not going to sit here and listen to you guys bitch over what I like to read.”

“Oh, so now you’re busy all of a sudden?”

“Yeah, very busy as it happens. See you girls later.”

He stormed off in a huff, leaving Floyd and Chuck on their own. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes and Floyd could basically see the wheels in friend’s head turning as he processed what he’d just heard.

“She is not fucking Speirs.”

“Not like I care.”

“Just give it a rest.” Still pretending that he wasn’t interested. Floyd was getting tired of listening to this shit. “When we get back to England, I’m locking the two of you in a fucking room so you can finally do something about it.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Oh we’ll see alright.” Floyd gave Chuck’s shoulder a hard push. “You fucking wimp.”

“What the hell.” Chuck kicked at Floyd’s shins in retaliation. “Who are you calling a wimp?”

“I don’t see anyone else here so I must be calling you a wimp.”

“Goddammit, Tab.”

It only took them a few seconds to jump at each other’s throats and a few minutes later a small crowd had started to form as people started placing bets on who they thought was going to win. After all that everyone had experienced during their time in France, this was as close to safe entertainment that they could get.

“Do I need to step in once again, ladies?”

At one point Liebgott had come back to see what the commotion was all about and he wasn’t surprised to see Chuck and Floyd rolling around in the dirt. It happened so often that hardly anyone cared enough to step in. Everyone usually left it to him to break it up.

“I’d like to see you try, Lieb!” Floyd called out as he tried to escape the tight grip that Chuck had on him. “You skinny bitch!”

“What did you just say?”

“You heard me!”

Instead of breaking them up, Joe Liebgott jumped into the fray to the loud cheers of some of the onlookers.

“What the hell’s going on over there?”

There was such a commotion up ahead that Catherine had almost forgotten what she had walked in on earlier.

_That was... no. Stop thinking about that. No one wants to remember that shit._

She recognised one of the shorter guys standing on the fringes and knocked into his back.

“What gives!” When Bill turned round, he looked like he was itching for a fight but his face split into a grin when he saw who it was. “Hey, doll.”

“Hey, Bill.” Joe Toye, who was standing next to him, nodded at her. “Joe. What’s going on here?”

“Oh, just some morons fighting.”

“What? Shouldn’t you guys break it up?”

“Nah. They’re always fighting.” He grabbed her arm and moved her up to the front. “See? No big deal.”

She initially frowned, but then she saw the scene that took place before her. Chuck was on the ground with Floyd sitting on his back, knee pressed in between his shoulder blades and he had Joe Liebgott in a headlock as well. Liebgott for his part was pulling on Floyd’s arms to get out of his grasp.

“Oh my god.” The entire situation was so ludicrous that she found herself laughing for the first time in days. “They’re always like that?”

“Pretty much,” Bill replied. “This is nothing.”

“No way.” How much worse could it possibly get? She didn’t really want to know if she was perfectly honest. “You’re pulling my leg.”

“Really, doll? I’d never lie to you.”

“Yeah, you’re a real stand up guy, Wild Bill.”

“Heard about that as well, did ya?” His new nickname had spread through all the other companies like wildfire.

“I hear about everything.”

Looking back at the small pile of guys in front of her, it looked like Liebgott was now winning since he’d managed to work Floyd to the ground and now had his arms around his and Chuck’s neck and was screaming at them to give up and yield already.

“You know, I been hearing some things about you as well.”

“Oh really?” She briefly looked at Bill with her eyebrows raised. “Leave it to you to be the only to have the balls to ask.”

“Bullshit right?” He grinned at her. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“I know what you’re talking about.” She answered his grin with one of her own. “And yeah. Complete bullshit.”

“Told ya!” He nudged Toye in the side who looked at her as well now. “Never believed it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Toye leaned in briefly so she could hear him above the ruckus around them. “He tried to pick a fight with one of those morons from Fox because of it.”

“Aw, Bill! You’d start a fight over me?” Bill grumbled, but she noticed the slight dusty pink colour on his cheeks. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone what a decent guy you really are. You’ve got a reputation to uphold after all.” She patted his shoulder. “It’ll be our secret. Since you’re my honorary brother and all.”

“Damn straight I am.”

“Will this ever end?” Catherine gestured back at the three men. “I mean, is anyone supposed to win for them to stop? Because this just looks pathetic.”

“Not likely,” Toye said. “I should step in.”

“Don’t think you have to.”

Bill pointed to someone who was coming up behind the three men who were wrestling it out on the floor. And did he look angry.

“What the hell is going on here?” Catherine snorted with laughter when all their heads turned at once to look at Doc Roe. He hardly ever sounded this pissed off. “You should know better than this. All three of you.” When they let each other go, Gene looked at all three of them more closely and seemed to note the cuts and scratches that they had. “I ain’t bandaging that shit up. Just so you know.”

After telling them that, he walked in the direction where she was standing, greeted her as if nothing of significance had happened and disappeared from view.

“Oh boy,” she said to Bill and Joe. “You do not want to piss off Gene.”

She’d seen Gene blow his top once before. He didn’t give a shit who was in front of him either. He probably wouldn’t have any problems with telling officers off if they did something really stupid.

The crowd dispersed and the three men sat there looking a little bit perplexed and out of breath by everything that had gone on between them. They probably wouldn’t be pulling shit like this any time soon just to avoid being on the other end of Gene Roe’s angry glare.

“Regular occurrence huh?” Bill nodded. He actually looked a little bit proud that the three upstarts were in his company. “Glad they’re not in my fucking company. I’d have killed them for pulling shit like that.”

“I don’t doubt that for one second.”

Hazarding one last glance in the direction of the men, she found that a pair of blue eyes were on her already and she held Chuck’s gaze for a few seconds before looking away and shaking her head.

“Though the circumstances were less than ideal, it was a pleasure catching up with you guys.”

“The pleasure was all mine, doll,” Bill said with a wink.

“Smooth, Bill. Real smooth.”

“Eh.” He shrugged. “I have my moments.”

“Save it for the locals. That shit’s wasted on the likes of me,” she replied with a grin. “See you guys around.”

When Catherine was out of earshot, Liebgott nudged Floyd’s side hard and said, “See what I was talking about? That chick’s got one hell of an ass.”

“Give it a rest, Lieb.” Floyd slapped the back of his head.

“Yeah, shut up, Lieb.” Chuck slapped him as well for good measure.

“Fuck you guys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Since I mentioned a pooka in this, here’s the Wikipedia link for more info.
> 
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Púca
> 
> And what she says to Theo after she’s on her own is a quote from Hamlet. It’s not really explicitly stated in this fic, but in my mind she’s studying to be a teacher in English Literature so her saying that made sense to me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all finally happens when Chuck teaches Catherine how to play pool...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight smuttiness near the end. It shall continue in the next one.

Ralph had insisted that she went out drinking with them about a week after they’d arrived back in England and had practicality dragged her out of her room, not taking no for an answer.

“All you guys do is sit around and talk about Speirs.” But the way the conversation seemed to revolve around nothing but Speirs was starting to annoy her. “Pick another subject. Please.”

“Well, he is a bit of a legend.” Howie leaned back in his chair and looked around him briefly. “Hard not to talk about the guy.”

“If I didn’t know most of you so well, I could be fooled into thinking that all of you have crushes on him.” The silence between the small group was quite deafening all of a sudden. “Oh my god. That’s it, isn’t it? Did I just ruin your little Speirs fanclub meeting?”

“That’s not what this is about at all!” Eddie looked slightly indignant that she had even suggested it. “I mean... no way!”

“You guys should tell him how you really feel. He’d be so happy that he’d cry.”

“Yeah right. I don’t even think the man has tear ducts.”

“This another one of your crazy theories, Ralph?”

One of his latest theories had been that he was absolutely positive that Speirs was a werewolf. Long story short, one night when he’d been keeping watch in France, he’d seen something furry and big and it had snarled at him before disappearing into the undergrowth. The something had been a stray dog that she’d seen around a couple of times before and it stuck close to them because one of the men fed it scraps, but Ralph didn’t believe her.

“No. But I’m still maintaining that there’s something off about the guy.”

Several men backed him up and started adding what they thought about Speirs, making her shake her head. So this is what they got up to when there was a shortage of available women.

“You guys. Come on.” She got to her feet and held up her empty glass to silently ask if anyone wanted another drink, but no one replied. “No takers? Boys, you are such cheap dates. Not that I’m complaining or anything.”

“Need me to come with?”

“Don’t worry.” She patted Ralph’s shoulder when she was standing next to him. “No one’s tried to grope me for a while now. Since I’m supposedly fucking the guy that you’re all gushing about.”

Ralph had been right. Before the rumours she would occasionally get hit on, but everyone gave her wide berth now. She’d accidentally bumped into a guy on her way here and he’d apologised so profusely that it had been bordering on insane. Probably thought she was going to sic Speirs on him.

She made her way to the bar and tried to catch the bartender’s eye. Briefly turning around, she looked at the people who were in the pub. She saw a couple of guys from Easy, drinking hard as usual. Her eyes were drawn to the pool table and where two men from Easy were playing pool. One of them being Chuck Grant.

All previous comments about distractions be damned. She didn’t give a shit anymore. If there was one thing that she had learned from her time in France, it was that life was short so she had better enjoy herself while she was still around.

He caught her looking and flashed her a smile which she answered with one of her own before lighting another cigarette. Seconds later he was nudging his friend in the side and both of them looked in her direction. Hook, line and sinker. She turned back to the bar and tapped on it in an attempt to get the bartender to notice her.

It didn’t take long for Chuck Grant to slide in next to her. He knocked his arm against her side and tried to make it look like it had been entirely accidental.

“Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to bump into you.”

“It’s okay. Not like you seriously injured me or anything.”

“Be a shame if I did.” He flashed her another smile and held out his hand. “My name’s Charles Grant, but everyone calls me Chuck.”

“I kn- I’m Catherine Taylor. Cat for short.” She was embarrassed that she had almost slipped up and said that she knew exactly who he was when she took his hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“Pretty name for a pretty girl. And I assure you that the pleasure is all mine.” Whereas she’d been trying for a short while he caught the bartender’s attention almost instantly and asked, “Can I get you anything?”

“Oh. Sure. Whiskey.” When he had the drinks, he handed her the glass, fingers brushing against hers quite deliberately. “Thanks.”

“Again, my pleasure. Pretty girl like you shouldn’t be buying her own drinks.” He really was laying it on thick. Leaning in a bit closer, their arms pressed together, he said, “You know I couldn’t help but notice that you were checking out the pool table earlier. I could teach you if you want.”

“Really? You would?”

“Course I would. I’d love to.” He looked ecstatic that she seemed willing to take him up on his offer. “I’m a very helpful guy.”

“I’m sure you are if you’re willing to teach me how to play pool.” She pushed herself away from the bar a little bit too eagerly and gestured at him to lead the way. “Hope you’ll be patient with me, Chuck.”

“I’ll be anything you want me to be.”

She followed him and they walked past the guy that he was playing pool with before. He’d rejoined some other men from Easy and had been engaged in a pretty vivid conversation until he noticed her walking past. Conversation stalled instantly and then several eyes turned in her direction. They were probably waiting to see what would happen next and she figured they’d already started a couple of bets on the possible outcome.

“What do you know about pool?”

“You take that stick,” she pointed at the cue that he was now holding out to her, “And you knock the white ball into the other ones.”

“Exactly.” He beckoned at her to come closer and when she was close enough he said, “I can teach you how to play, but I’ll have to touch you to teach you properly. You okay with me doing that?”

“I want to do it right so sure.”

“Okay.” Chuck stood behind her and helped her hold the cue in the right way first. “You’ll have to lean forward...” Then he put his large hands on her hips and pulled her back against him, so he could move her into the right position. “Like this.”

She felt his breath against her ear as he guided her, showed her how to place the cue on her fingers so she could guide it in the right direction, pulled the cue back and then he hit the white ball against the other ones which spread out over the green surface.

“Just like that.” His lips brushed against her ear, making her breath hitch involuntarily before he pulled away from her with a smile. If he kept this up, she’d practically be throwing herself at him after a few minutes. “Now I’ll be going for that one,” he pointed at a striped ball near one of the pockets. “I’ll get that one in the hole which means the striped ones will be mine. That make sense?”

“Perfectly. You’re really working very hard to make me understand this game.”

“I’m trying to be a good teacher.” He casually placed his hand on her lower back. “It’s your turn when I don’t get one of the striped ones in or if I accidentally pocket one of yours.”

“Does that happen a lot?” It wasn’t like she cared about any of this, but she didn’t want him to move away from her. “People accidentally hitting one that isn’t theirs?”

“Sometimes.” She felt his hand inch down slightly lower and it made her want to push it down so she could place his hand on her ass just to get it over with. “Happened to me once or twice.”

“Really? I find that hard to believe.”

“Even I make mistakes sometimes.”

“You do?”

“Sometimes.”

He left the implication of this not being a mistake hanging in the air, so heavy that it was almost palpable. No, this definitely wasn’t a mistake. She wouldn’t be regretting any of this.

When he took his shot, he pocketed the striped ball like he had said he would and then another. He didn’t pocket one on the next shot so that meant that it was her turn.

“Want me to help again?”

“Yes please.” He did the same thing as before and helped her pocket one of the coloured ones. He kept standing quite close behind her even when she came back up, hands still on her hips, breath tickling her ear. “I’d like to try it myself now if that alright with you.”

“Okay.” He reluctantly let her go and said, “If you need my help, all you need to do is ask.”

“I know.” She leaned over, pulled the cue back and managed to get one into the hole by herself this time. “You’re a good teacher, Chuck.”

“Sure looks like it.” He smiled triumphantly as she started moving around the table. “You’re doing pretty well over there.”

She looked at how the balls were lined up, trying to figure out what the best spot was to strike from was. She was standing across from Chuck who was watching her closely as she leaned over and took another shot. When she managed to get another one in, she looked up at him with a smile and she could practically hear the penny drop.

“Wait a minute. Are you a hustler?”

“A hustler? Are we playing for money, Chuck? Because I wasn’t aware of that.” She took another shot a bit too quickly and missed that one unfortunately. “Ah hell.”

Chuck moved over to where she was standing and moved in close to say, “You missed that one on purpose.”

“Did I?”

“Sure looked like it.”

“I’ll have you know that I’m not that good at playing pool, Chuck. But from what I’ve seen from how you play, neither are you.”

“You been watching me?” He moved in more closely and whispered in her ear, “Like I been watching you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” She turned her head so she could look at him. He was so close that she could feel his warm breath on her face and tempting though it may be to lean in to kiss him, she fought the urge to do so. “A lady never tells.”

“Shame.” His eyes kept going down to her lips, telling her that he had similar thoughts as her. “I have ways of making you answer that particular question though.”

“You do?”

“Yep.” He reached up suddenly and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her jaw for a few seconds afterwards. “I’d like to think I can be very persuasive.”

“Guess we’ll find out about that later. Unless you wanted to give it a go now.”

He didn’t move at first, one corner of his mouth merely curling up, but then he started leaning in just a little bit closer. Not wanting to make things too easy for him, she put her hand on his chest and gave a gentle push before moving away entirely and leaning against the table, blocking his route of access to the white ball. His amusement over the entire situation was plain for all to see on his face.

“Your turn, Chuck.” Moving in next to her, his fingers grazed her hip as he tried to lean in to take his shot. “I’m not in the way, am I?”

“Nope.” His eyes met hers for a second, grin playing on his lips. “I’ll just work around you.”

Due to her making a point out of it to do things like that multiple times afterwards, the game ended up lasting a lot longer than it should have. Adding to that, neither of them were particularly good at the game, meaning they were fairly evenly matched.

In an attempt to throw him off his game when there were hardly any balls left, she decided to deliberately take shots from where he was standing, constantly pressing her ass back against him at every opportunity that she got. He paid her back in kind for this by squeezing her ass just the once in retaliation, leading to her almost putting her cue through the green felt that covered the tabletop. And from the way he smirked the smug bastard had definitely noticed.

She never really liked pool much because she wasn’t any good at it, but she liked this. This little game was fun. Real fun.

“Good game.” He shook her hand afterwards. “I can’t help but feel that you let me win.”

“I swear that I’m not that good at this. Just got lucky a couple of times I guess. Besides, I don’t think your buddies would make you forget about it if you lost a game to a girl,” she said with a grin. “But I will have you know that you seriously hurt my feelings by beating me so mercilessly so I’ll let you buy me another drink to make it up to me.”

He laughed, gestured to the bar and bought her a drink where their little game went on for a while. Even though she was practically burning up every time he moved in a little bit closer, she loved watching him squirm every time she turned down another one of his suggestions of going out and getting some fresh air. He’d be rewarded for the all the effort that he was putting in eventually.

All good things come to those who wait.

*****

About an hour later they were in a small alley next to the building and he had her pinned up against the wall. His hands were on her ass to hold her up and she had her legs wrapped around his waist. His lips were on her neck, sucking on the skin just underneath her jaw.

“Where’d you learn how to play pool?”

“One of my brother’s friends had a pool table in the basement.” She gasped loudly when he maneuvered one of his hands between her legs. “I thought he was cute so... _fuck_.”

“He bend you over the table like I did?” He looked up at her as he brushed a few fingers over the front of her trousers. “Or did he make you sit on it with your thighs wide open so he could fuck you?”

“Not like you,” she moaned the words. “And from behind.” She pressed her lips down on his hungrily. “He took me from behind.”

“Want me to take you from behind?” Removing his hand from between her legs, he pushed his hips up against hers so she could feel his obvious arousal pressing against her. “Tell me what you want.”

“You. I want you.” Tilting her hips against his, she managed to coax a moan from him which made her grin. “I want you to fuck me. That’s it. That’s what I want you to do.”

“I can do that.” He moved away from the wall and held onto her, moving in the direction of a nearby storage shed. “I can definitely do that, baby.”

Arms tightly wrapped around his shoulders, she pressed her lips against his neck and started kissing and nipping his skin. This wasn’t enough. She needed more. All because of this deep overwhelming need that she felt for him inside, that had been gradually building over the last few years. It was practically crying out. It needed to be sated. It was nothing short of a miracle that she hadn’t jumped his bones before.

Chuck almost kicked the door of the shed in, he was _that_ eager. Hearing the wood creak made her laugh and then her ass made contact with a hard surface underneath her. Looking down, she saw that she had been placed upon a stack of crates, which were the perfect height for him to do whatever he wanted to her. It seemed a little bit too convenient to her, but she wasn’t in a state to make inquiries about it.

There was a brief look, one that seemed to ask her if she was sure about this, even if she was quite obviously a mess for him already.

“I need you.” Catherine grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him closer, claiming his mouth in such a hungry kiss that she managed to draw another moan from him. “I need you now.”

“That right?” Their lips never parted, his hands on her hips and pulling her close to the edge as he pushed his hips against hers. “Feel that?”

“Mmmm. Yeah.”

“Need you too.” His hands were all over her, like he didn’t know what to focus on, before seeming to settle at the top of her trousers and yanking them open roughly so he could slip his hand in. “Fuck, baby. You’re soaked.”

“Been like that all night.” Her hips bucked up against his hand, her body almost exploding because he touched her right where she’d wanted him to touch her ever since he first bent her over the pool table. “Couldn’t wait for this.”

“Jesus Christ, if I’d known you were like this during our game, I’d have dragged you off much sooner.”

“Wanted you to.” She tore at his shirt, fingers constantly fumbling on the fastenings. “So bad.” A needy whine escaped from her lips when he pulled his hand out of her trousers. “Please...”

“Don’t worry.” When she focused her eyes on his, his pupils were so blown out with desire that they were almost black. “I’ll take care of you. I’ll make you feel real good.”

“Stop talking and fuck me already.”

“Impatient! You’re the one that made me...” The words died in his throat when she finally pulled his shirt open, her hand quickly moving down his chest so she could pull his trousers open. “It’s okay though. I don’t mind.”

“Wouldn’t care if you did.” Pulling her legs up, she tore at the laces on her boots and then proceeded to kick them off. “Take my trousers off. _Now_.”

“Whatever you want, baby.”

The clothes pulling got more frantic, both growing increasingly more impatient. She needed this. Needed him. Needed him now.

Now. Now, now, now, _now_.

The word became a chant in her head. Repeating the same word over and over and over again, until it reached a crescendo and became almost deafening. Until she finally felt him inside her and he made her come apart at the seams, made her scream until her throat was raw.

This. This was it. It had been worth the wait. By god had it been worth it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of what went on after their game of pool basically. I have nothing else to add.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the smutty bit. I’d like to say upfront that I haven’t written smut in many years so I may be a bit rusty.

Chuck’s eyes kept drifting up from the pool table to where she was sitting with some of the guys from her company. He basically couldn’t help himself.

“Are we still playing or are you too busy with checking out the medic?”

“Shut up, Luz.”

By now pretty much all of them had noticed how he couldn’t stop looking at her whenever she made an appearance in the pub. Same thing kept happening back in Toccoa, but he hid it a lot better back then. He had thought he did anyway.

Tab had been pushing him to do something about it, to just go up to her and start a conversation, but the complete lack of encouragement from her end had been severely hampering him. Whereas Tab went up to every girl he liked the look of, Chuck needed to at least see something first that showed him that his attention was welcome. And for as far as he knew she never encouraged anyone to take it a step further.

There was one very brief moment in France, right after Doc Roe had broken up a minor scuffle between him, Tab and Lieb, that she had looked directly at him, but since she’d been one of the onlookers it probably hadn’t meant anything and even it had, the circumstances hadn’t exactly been ideal.

He was waiting for Luz to take his next shot and happened to look up at the bar, to find that she was now standing there on her own. She was lighting a cigarette whilst looking in their direction. Or to be more precise in _his_ direction. When she held his gaze, and so brazenly too, he flashed her a smile and he could see the corners of her mouth quirk up ever so slightly. That was basically all he needed in terms of encouragement from her end.

“Luz, this game is over.”

“You don’t want to play anymore because you’re losing?”

“What? I’m _not_ losing.” He nudged him in the ribs and Luz followed his eyes over to the bar, catching her gaze just before she turned away. “Line them up for a new game.”

“The fuck. You’re going in?”

“Yeah.” He took his empty glass from a nearby table so he had an excuse to go over to where she was standing. “I’ll ask her if she wants to learn how to play pool.”

“But you’re the worst player in here.”

“Am not.” Even if he lost most of the games that he played, he still didn’t think that he was that bad when compared to some of the other guys. There were only a handful of guys who were worse players than him, but he always seemed to ignore that small fact. “And even if I was, she doesn’t know that.”

“You’re a lot braver than I am,” Luz muttered. “Good luck.”

Shortly after, he used the oldest trick in the book and ‘accidentally’ bumped into her to get her attention before introducing himself and buying her a drink. He switched the charm on as high as it could possibly go and when he offered to teach her how to play pool, he could barely hide his excitement when she accepted.

When he taught her, he held her close and maneuvered her into the right positions. All he did in those moments was hope and pray that his cock wouldn’t go hard which it didn’t, thank god. And even though he had asked for her permission before even as much as laying a finger on her, she seemed fine with him holding her close and when his lips brushed against her ear just the once, he instantly noticed how her breath hitched. It took him every ounce of composure to stop himself from dragging her outside so he could make her feel exactly what he had wanted to do to her for a while.

It wasn’t until she seemed confident enough to try it on her own that he figured out that she had known how to play pool all along and had merely been entertaining him. From that point onward all pretence of them attempting to beat each other at pool flew out the window. All their effort was poured into making things as difficult as possible for the other person and to be as distracting as they could be.

If it wasn’t for all the other people that were present in the pub, they would have probably torn each other’s clothes off much sooner. And it definitely didn’t help when she started pushing her ass up against him at every possible opportunity that she got and was constantly looking over her shoulder at him as if she was silently asking him what he was going to do about it.

Controlling himself had never been a particularly strong point of his so how he managed to keep himself in check this particular evening was a complete mystery to him. It was just a shame that it took about another hour before he managed to get her outside.

At least the payoff was sweet.

*****

When he finally got her in the storage shed, which had long since been claimed by Floyd because he had a tendency of taking conquests there, it was a rather frantic affair.

They pulled on each other’s clothes impatiently in an effort to get the other person naked as soon as possible. He’d have torn a couple of buttons off her shirt too if she hadn’t helped him. In the end their impatience had taken over, leaving their shirts open and her trousers and underwear on the floor. His were gathered around his ankles and he constantly kept pulling her bra down as he continued to thrust into her at a hurried pace.

The entire affair was over within mere minutes, but she didn’t seem to mind. The noises she made during the event told him that she was enjoying herself and that she wasn’t going to be too shy about letting him know either.

“Fuck!” Several stray locks of hair stuck to her glistening forehead and she was laughing breathlessly. “You were in a hurry.”

“Sorry.” His forehead was resting on her shoulder, his hands still tightly gripping her hips. “Couldn’t help myself.”

“Don’t apologise,” Cat replied with a laugh. “That was amazing.”

“Oh yeah?” He turned his head so he could look at her and she looked so blissed out and beautiful that he almost didn’t want her to come down from her high. “Not that I’m complaining or anything.”

“Yeah.” Their eyes met when she looked to the side and flashed him a grin. “You did good.”

“Thanks.” Turning his head back to her shoulder, he sank his teeth into her skin again, making her lightly smack the back of his head. “Thought you liked that?”

“You’re just trying to mark me now.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, baby.”

He pulled away with reluctance, eyes drifting to the reddened teethmarks that he had left all over her shoulder already. She rummaged around in the breast pocket of her open shirt, produced a packet of cigarettes and held it out to him. He took a lighter from his and soon he stood next to her, leaning against the crates that he had put her on. Since she made absolutely no attempt to cover herself up, he didn’t either.

“I’m a lucky guy,” he said suddenly. “Very lucky.”

“Are you? Why?”

“I’m the first guy that managed to get anywhere with you.”

“Ah. And that makes you feel all good about yourself of course.” She couldn’t help but grin to herself that he thought he was the first paratrooper that got to her, but she decided to let him have this. She reached out and ran her fingers through his hair. “Should’ve just talked to me sooner. Probably wouldn’t have been able to say no to you anyway.”

“Really?” When he looked at her, he found that her dark eyes were already on him, slight smile on her lips. “Fuck. So you’re basically telling me that I wasted time?”

“Pretty much. Not like I noticed you for the first time this evening. You’re pretty hard to miss.” She settled her hand at the top of his spine, fingertips dipping into the collar of his shirt. “Though I fully expect that there are bound to be rumours about the how and why I never take anyone up on their offers to have a roll in the hay. The words “frigid bitch” come to mind.”

She could still remember being called that by that asshole from Fox who seemed to think that she wouldn’t mind if he grabbed her ass and tried to slip his hand between her thighs. He was lucky that all she’d done was grind her boot down on his foot, because she’d wanted to do a lot worse to him. Though she had her suspicions that some of the guys from her company had done something to the guy after they found out about it. Ralph’s knuckles had looked a bit bruised the following day after all.

“And then there’s that new story about me being involved with Speirs.”

“You know about that one?”

“I first heard about that ridiculous rumour back in France. Some of the guys don’t really talk as softly as they seem to think they do.” She took another drag and blew smoke rings when she exhaled. “It’s not true, you know.”

“I didn’t think that it was.” The whole story had always seemed very farfetched to him. There was nothing in their mannerisms that seemed to suggest that anything was going on between them. Probably just made up by some guys who were trying to pass the time. “Sure am glad about that rumour now though.”

“And why is that?”

“It meant that no one had the balls to go near you.”

“Guess I’m the lucky one then.” She leaned to the side and pressed her lips against his temple. “Seeing how you were willing to take a shot.”

“Lets just settle on both of us being lucky.” He looked at her bare legs, not wanting to let his eyes drift up too high even after what they’d just done. “You uh... want to get out of here?”

“Do you?”

“No. But I just figured I’d ask.” She crossed her legs, making him focus on the section of skin where her thigh met her ass. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind hanging out here a bit longer with you. If that’s what you want.”

“Not like I have anything else planned, Chuck.” She laughed softly as she pressed her cigarette out on one of the crates. “But you know, if you want to leave because you have better things to do...”

“No. Nothing else to do. Just you.” He looked back up at her and she kept her eyes on him as she uncrossed her legs and spread them. “Fuck, baby. You’re so distracting.”

“You want me to stop? All this talk of leaving is making me feel mighty unwanted.”

“Hell no. You’re not going anywhere.” He moved to stand in front of her again. He put his hands on her knees and kept his eyes firmly focused on her face. “I want to taste you.”

One corner of her mouth curled up and she reached out to put a hand on his chin before leaning forward and ghosting her lips over his. He wanted to close the small distance and kiss her, but he rather liked how she appeared to be playing with him.

“What are you waiting for?,” she finally said. “Permission?”

“Yes. Tell me what you want me to do.”

“I want to feel your mouth on my pussy.” She moved her fingers up his jaw and leaned further forward until her lips brushed against his ear. “I want you to eat me out until I scream your name.”

“ _Fuck_.” He heard her chuckle and then felt her drag her lips over the shell of his ear. She moved her hand down from his jaw to his chest, nails dragging down his skin and coming to a stop just above his hipbone. “You are a fucking dream. You know that, right?”

“I do my best.” When she leaned back again, she gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Now hop to it, Chuck. Make me proud.”

“Jesus Christ,” he breathed. “As you wish.”

Make her proud. He’d do whatever he could to make her proud. Even if this would turn out to be just a one time thing, he wanted to make sure that she’d never forget it. He wanted to make sure that she’d remember how his tongue felt on her pussy, how his fingers felt inside her as he sought for that elusive sweet spot that would make her toes curl.

He brought his lips down on the inside of her thigh, just above her knee, and slowly but surely started to work his way upward. Whenever he looked up, she was looking at him with an amused smirk on her face, but he could see how her ass would shift from time to time, making it painfully obvious that she could barely wait for him to reach the top. When he almost got high enough, he pulled away and moved to her other leg where he repeated the same process. She swore under her breath over being made to wait even longer and he chuckled over her inability to hide her growing discomfort.

Guiding her legs to hook over his shoulders, he grabbed her thighs and pulled her to the edge of her makeshift seat. He could practically feel the heat radiating off of her. Dipping his head down, he licked a stripe over her folds with the flat of his tongue. She gasped loudly which made him repeat the move. He felt her heels press into his back as she started rolling her hips up into his mouth.

The ability to form words appeared to have left her completely and she was emitting nothing but a series of moans and breathless laughs. Looking up, he saw that she had thrown her head back, her hands forming fists as she dug her fingernails hard into her palms. She looked absolutely fucking beautiful from this angle.

“Fuck, baby,” he breathed against her core. “You taste amazing.”

“Oh y-yeah?”

“Mmmmm,” he moaned, adding the tiniest of vibrations, making her reach for him to put her hands on the back of his head and pushing him down against her to hold him there. Not like he needed much incentive to keep going. “Heavenly.”

Sucking the little bundle of nerves at the top of her legs between his lips, he brought his hand up, sliding it over her thigh, briefly rubbed them over swollen lips before inserting a finger deep inside her. She let out a low guttural moan and pushed her hips up, using his shoulders as leverage. Grinning against her heat, he added another finger and curled them up inside her.

“Oh my god.” She grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled, making him feel a faint hint of pain. If anything that only served to spur him on, made him lap at her with more enthusiasm than before to bring her to new heights. Her body responded instantly. A sudden jolt coursed through her body, making all her muscles twitch in unison as her voice went up in pitch. “Don’t stop. _Please_.”

He slid his free hand up her chest and squeezed her breast, dragging his palm over her nipple. Another loud gasp fell from her lips and he could feel the muscles in her thighs begin to tense up, her heels digging into his back hard as she came ever closer to climaxing.

He thrust his fingers into her as deep as they could go, curling them up again. His name was one long stretched out moan spilling from her lips as his tongue mercilessly licked around his fingers and up her clit. The muscles in her thighs tightened, squeezing his head between them, the walls of her pussy contracting around his fingers.

“Fuck! Yes!” Her voice broke as her orgasm hit her hard, like lightning was coursing through her body and she cried his name out so loudly that they must have been able to hear it all through the town. “Chuck!”

Before she even had a chance to come down from her high, he’d already gripped her thighs hard and pressed his cock into her as far as it could go. Tears started to form in the corners of her eyes, still riding the waves of her orgasm when he started thrusting into her. Her walls clamped down on him, bringing his own release closer by the second. He knew he wasn’t going to last long, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was this moment and that he finally had her right where he had wanted her all this time.

Licking a stripe from her neck all the way up to her ear, he started whispering, “You are such a champ, baby. Taking me like this. Such... a... champ...” His words came out in rough gasps as his rhythm started to stutter. “Fuck...”

Pulling out, he took his cock in his hand and came on her thigh since he’d forgotten to put on another condom in his eagerness to get inside her again. Half collapsing against her, his breathing laboured and his heart beating furiously inside his chest, he swallowed to get some moisture back in his throat. She lazily wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding him as they came down from their highs. It wasn’t until she let out a laugh that he seemed to snap back to reality.

“You alright?”

“I will be.” Before he had a chance to pull away, she cupped his face and gave him an intense kiss that they both lost themselves in for a short while. It was all swollen lips, tongues swiping, teeth scraping and ended with her taking his bottom lip between her teeth and gently pulling on it until it snapped back. “That was intense.”

“Goddamn.” He took her hands and helped her get down. When her knees almost buckled out from underneath her, he pinned her up against the stack of crates, plunging his lips down on hers hard. “Please tell me that wasn’t just a one-off.”

“You may have just completely ruined me for all other men, Chuck,” she murmured against his lips. “So you can bet your ass that it wasn’t just a one night affair. Does that mean you’ll have me again?”

He crushed his mouth on hers, finding it difficult to stop now. He’d have her again. Definitely. She groaned against his lips, breathing heavy as she tried, and failed, to get enough air into her lungs before gently pushing him away.

“I didn’t mean now.” Despite her obvious temporary discomfort, she still flashed him a wide smile because of his eagerness. “You’ll kill me if you do that again.”

“Wouldn’t want that to happen.”

“I should hope not.”

He watched her as she readjusted her clothes and started buttoning her shirt back up. He started doing the same, but kept sneaking peeks at her naked body before she got a chance to cover herself up entirely, doing the utmost to burn it into his memory. He couldn’t help but notice that she hadn’t put her underwear back on, instead using that to clean up the mess that he had left on her thigh and then stuffing the soiled piece of cloth into her pocket.

Grabbing two cigarettes from his packet when they were dressed, he lit them and then handed one to her.

“It was almost like Paul Henreid himself was in the room.” She cupped his cheek and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “You sure know how to impress the ladies.”

He chuckled and quickly moved forward to open the door for her, letting her exit first. She leisurely made her way to the entrance of the alleyway and waited there for him to his surprise.

“You’re not worried that people might see us together?”

He knew that this wasn’t allowed. No fraternising. All this time he’d thought that it was the main reason why she had kept men at bay. How wrong had he been in regards to that. She offered him a little smile and walked back to stand in front of him.

“I might have woken up half the county when you made me come that second time so I think it’s safe to say that I don’t really care.” Grabbing the collar of his shirt, she pulled him down so she could give him a kiss. “Plus, it’s nighttime. No one’s around.”

“Fair point.”

He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, feeling her hand settle on his hip as they walked together in the pleasant evening air. This was definitely a night to remember.

*****

“You do realise that some people were trying to get some sleep, right?”

Apparently it was proving to be a night to remember for some of the other guys as well, but for entirely different reasons.

“Sounded like she was really enjoying herself.” Tab smacked his shoulder and very much resembled a proud father. “You show her a good time, Chuck?”

He didn’t reply to any of their questions, but his growing grin told them enough. They had kept up their ribbing for almost the entire morning, seemingly wanting to make sure that he’d never forget about happened the previous evening which he definitely wasn’t going to do any time soon.

When they passed through the town they saw Speirs up ahead, casually leaning against a building, with her standing next to him and taking one of the cigarettes that he liked to offer up to everyone so much.

Someone nudged him in the side hard, he thought that it was Luz, but he was too preoccupied with staring at her to look at who had done it. He also didn’t hear what his comrades in arms were saying to him, it was like they were a million miles away.

Because in that very short moment when she’d lit her cigarette and exhaled, she looked in the direction of the group that he found himself in and their eyes locked instantly. He noted the almost shy smile, the way her cheeks reddened ever so slightly, how her free hand went up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear...

“Wait! Are you blushing?!” Pulled out of his train of thought completely, he turned to Luz who was pointing at him. “Oh my god. You are!”

“What? No, I’m...”

“Holy fucking shit! Are you guys seeing this?”

George’s voice was loud, intentionally so, making sure that everyone around them would hear. His voice was so loud that Chuck was convinced that people would be able hear him in the next town over.

“The fuck, man. Seriously?” Lieb smacked the back of his head. “You going soft on us?”

They all seemed to turn on him, endlessly amused by the fact that his cheeks had coloured ever so slightly because of a woman. When he looked back to her, she was trying to stop herself from bursting out in laughter by covering her mouth with her hand and then apologising profusely to her CO who looked less than impressed.

“Come on, guys,” he managed to get out finally. “Knock it off.”

“Like hell we will,” Luz said quickly. “We’ll never make you forget about it.”

“Fuck you. All of you.”

Looking back one last time, as a chorus of sniggers erupted around him, he caught her giving him a small wave which he returned before both turned their attention back to what they had been doing before they had spotted each other.

“Maybe you should go back over there and give her a nice big kiss.”

“Luz, shut the fuck up.”

“Ah, look at my little boy. All grown up.” Tab put his arm around his shoulder and grinned widely at him. “Told you didn’t I?”

“You told me,” Chuck replied with a sigh. “So now what? You going to take credit for this now?”

“A little bit?”

“Jesus. Fine. Thank you, Tab.”

“That’s all I wanted to hear.” Tab released him and held his arms out triumphantly. “Hear that guys? I made it happen.”

“We heard it,” Lieb said behind them. “Think you owe the man a drink, Chuck.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I’ll buy you all drinks if you’d just shut up about it.”

“Fiiiiiine. Just no more of that blushing shit or you’ll make me sick.”

“Deal.” Chuck rolled his eyes, but couldn’t stop a grin from forming on his lips. “Now shut up.” There came no reply this time, just a few low chuckles, but that was it. “That’s what I thought.”

They were a bunch of assholes from time to time, but he loved them all the same. Not that he’d ever tell them that. No, he’d buy them their drinks that evening and then they’d laugh about it. Then he’d see her again across the room and they’d pick up where they had left off hours earlier. His friends would tease him about it mercilessly once again the following day, but he hardly cared. He’d take their near endless jokes and quips.

Because the only thing that mattered was that his eye had first fallen on this girl almost two years previous and that the long wait, or pining as Tab would continue to call it, had finally paid off. And it had been worth it.

By god, had it been worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a mention of Chuck mirroring a move made by someone called Paul Henreid. He was in a movie called Now, Voyager which is one my favourite movies and since it came out on 31 October in 1942 it fits into the timeline. In this movie Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes at the same time and apparently he couldn’t go anywhere without women begging him to light cigarettes for them. I’ll post a link to the gif below (I’d post a link to YouTube, but the only scene from that movie that I could find where he does it was from the final scene).
> 
> https://giphy.com/gifs/romance-old-hollywood-classic-movies-xTgeINqopxLq27Mv7y


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